Green now knows when Virtanen is on, and when he's not. He acts accordingly, shaving down his minutes in a third period here, inserting him for multiple shifts in an overtime there. Sometimes in the same game.
"He's come a long way from when I had him in Utica and, still, I think we haven't seen his best yet, which for me is a good sign," Green said. "It's exciting. The nights that he's on, you get excited about it. And hopefully he becomes that player that we can build with and part of the puzzle that puts us to a spot that we all want to be."
That's why the Canucks continue to devote resources to Virtanen, who had a modest year in 2017-18 with the Canucks, with 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists) in 75 games.
"When we drafted him, I thought he was a unique player in his draft class," Benning said. "Obviously there's other players that went after him that are more skilled players and they've produced more offensively. But we're going to be patient with him because he's a power forward and he's a big, strong guy (6-foot-1, 226 pounds), but he's fast, [able] to play in the up-tempo game of today. He can get to the puck first and he gets in the corners and is physical."
The hope is that Virtanen will turn out to be a consistent 20-goal scorer in the NHL. That's what Benning targets for him, a level that he seems likely to attain this season with nine points (seven goals, two assists) in 18 games.
"He's playing with more conviction when he has the puck," Benning said. "He has a real good shot and now he's figuring out if he uses his speed he can go wide, he can take the puck to the net. … He's an important part to our team."
And he's having fun. He's feeling more established in a League he always knew had space for him and his skills, even if he had to wait longer than he hoped, longer than some of the others.
"I think [the organization] sees the potential that I could have," Virtanen said. "The Canucks always had faith in me, so obviously I want to do the best I can to make them proud but make myself proud at the same time."
But, as Virtanen said, "It's been a long road to where I am now."